Holding Out For A Hero
by Snowsin
Summary: Sasuke has finally succeeded in killing Itachi, but his victory comes with a price. Before his death Itachi reveals the curse of the sharingan to his little brother. The sharingan curse is something that will change Sasuke's life forever. SasuSaku


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**Holding Out For A Hero**

Summary: Sasuke has finally succeeded in killing Itachi, but his victory comes with a price. Before his death Itachi reveals the curse of the sharingan to his little brother. The sharingan curse is something that will change Sasuke's life and the only cure is to find love. The one emotion Sasuke hasn't felt for years... [SasuSaku

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

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Chapter 1: The Curse

The forest was filled with the smell of death and blood. Trees bathed in the crimson liquid as two figures stared at each other from across a plain. The clearing had various weapons scattered across the grass. Three motionless bodies lay face down in the dirt, clothes ripped and wounds covering their bodies. Three were from Sasuke's team while Kisame struggled to stand. Using his giant sword as a brace he stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth. He smirked at the younger Uchiha and then wiped his hand on his clothing.

Itachi stood before his clan's avenger with the same blank expression. The mangekyou sharingan activated, ready for anything. Team Hebi were all dead except for Sasuke. Their efforts were not in vain though as Kisame had lost a lot of blood and chakra. Sasuke could easily finish him off but hesitated. His brother hadn't even bothered to start fighting back.

Kisame gave Itachi a quick glance then faced Sasuke. The younger Uchiha was waiting and planning his move. Minutes went by without anyone moving. Then in a blink of an eye he was gone. Kisame searched the clearing for any signs of movement. He then closed his eyes to concentrate better. Itachi let his sharingan locate his brother but he couldn't find him. He then settled into a slightly defensive stance and waited. He didn't have to wait long...

Kisame sensed a presence behind him and attempted to jump away but was to slow. Sasuke had cut straight into Kisame's chest and tore his heart. He then pulled out his katana and watched as Kisame squirmed and finally died. Kisame lifeless eyes stayed fixed on Itachi. Slowly his eye lids shut as he passed away.

Itachi watched as his best friend lay motionless before him. His eye then drifted to his brother who was wiping the blood from his sword onto the grass. This simple act of cleaning his blade on the grass made Itachi's blood biol. He gritted his teeth which went unnoticed by the avenger before him.

Satisfied with his job Sasuke sheathed his katana and watched Itachi. He could almost feel the hate flowing out off him. It sent a chill up his spine but his emotionless mask showed nothing.

"I asked you to face me with the mankeyou sharingan..."

"...I will obtain power my own way"

Itachi smirked at this.

"So are you saying none of these people are your friends?" referring to the former members of team Hebi.

Sasuke shot his brother an icy look.

"No"

Itachi's smirk changed into a frown. He was expecting Sasuke to have just witnessed the death of his best friend today. Itachi sighed but then he thought of an idea.

"So you wouldn't care if I burn their bodies?" he asked.

"Hn"

Itachi started to make the hand signs for the grand fireball technique and carefully watched Sasuke for any kind of reaction. Sasuke didn't even flinch when Itachi burnt Jugo's corpse to ashes. He felt a pang of guilt but this is why he didn't act friendly. He was tired of losing people close to him so he never let anyone close to him.

Itachi watched as the orange from the flames danced across Sasuke's face. He closed his eyes and faced the sky. _This is it... _He opened his eyes to reveal the third level sharingan. _I have come too far to fail now... _With that last thought all his fear left him as he faced the man that killed his entire clan. Itachi could sense the rise in Sasuke's courage but readied himself for the most important fight. He treated this like capturing the kyubi, a top priority task to end Sasuke's life.

Itachi vowed to himself to make his brother suffer before finishing him off. Itachi sensed a sudden change in Sasuke's chakra. His thoughts immediately subsided and he took his opponent seriously now. The curse mark raced from the mark on Sasuke's neck. The red marks covered his body in an instant. He stared straight into Itachi's eyes but didn't get stuck in a genjutsu. Itachi wondered why but it soon hit him. Sasuke was using two chakras. The seal's and his own. _Smart... _was all he could think.

Sasuke rushed forward. He used his speed to reach Itachi before he could react. He launched a bone shattering punch straight for his face but it skimmed his hair. Cursing Sasuke continued to assault his brother's defence. Itachi felt his arms start to bruise as Sasuke continued to fight. Itachi knew he would soon run out of energy but it seemed to take longer than he anticipated.

Sasuke finally ran out of energy and retreated to a safe distance. Itachi felt like his arms were on fire. He couldn't feel his fingers and he couldn't perform and hand signs. Yet he could barely move his arms. Sasuke had taken a big gamble by immobilising Itachi's arms but it payed off.

"Smart..."

"..."

Itachi cursed his own foolishness. _I'll need to stall and wait for my arms... _So he decided genjutsu was the way he could stall. Sasuke saw the change in stance and knew what Itachi was going to try doing. Sasuke knew he could break a genjutsu if he happened to get caught in one but some his worst fears would be used against him. He would be too scared to react. He feared the worst now. His mind lost concentration and he panicked. Closing his eyes had no effect. His body still tense he looked around avoiding Itachi. His efforts were in vain as Itachi caught him.

The sky faded away and his world changed. The sky was black as the younger Sasuke ran into the room where his parents were killed. Itachi was standing over his parents bodies with his sharingan twirling but Itachi soon faded away and Orochimaru was standing there. His eyes dangerously glinting.

"You bastard, I killed you!" shouted Sasuke.

Orochimaru's sinister laugh rang through the room.

"Ironic isn't it, master killed by apprentice. I'm impressed Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke shuddered; Orochimaru's words were poisoning him. His whole body felt numb. He couldn't move and he hated it. _Move...Move...MOVE! _

Orochimaru laughed once again. He walked over to Sasuke. He caressed Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke visibly flinched and he broke out in cold sweat. Orochimaru noticed this and licked his lips.

"I was always a part of you, Sasuke-kun"

_No..._

"...ever since that seal was placed on you"

_NO..._

"...you can't kill me"

"NO!"

Orochimaru withdrew his hand from the contact.

"We need to kill Itachi" he stated simply.

" _I _need to kill him" replied Sasuke.

The snake sanin chuckled.

"As soon as you activated my power "_I will kill Itachi by myself" _was out of the question Sasuke-kun"

"..."

"...also after this you will lose yourself completely to me" he stated.

Sasuke cringed. His body would finally be taken over. His second goal would remain incomplete and the clan would end here. He despised the fact he relied on this forbidden power. He had been corrupted by his own hunger for power but he didn't regret it.

"Itachi will die today" Sasuke replied.

"Let's go"

The genjutsu broke and Sasuke felt power flowing through his veins. He could feel Orochimaru flowing through his system. He hated the feeling but the power he could feel overshadowed the pain. He felt his muscles grow and his hair grow long. His eyes now black with the sharingan. Itachi had never seen a curse seal level two and watched on interested.

A sharp pain was felt in his left eye. He instinctively reached up and covered it. This didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke. _My body is already suffering the side effects... _Itachi removed his hand. He was blind in the left eye. A frown was on his features as Sasuke's chakra continued to grow. Then it stabled out. Sasuke stood there with his katana drawn. Itachi felt his arms again so he decided to end this. Forming a series of complicated seals he finished with the seal of the tiger.

Sasuke flew straight at Itachi his wings flapping furiously. He was preparing a Chidori as he hurtled towards Itachi. Itachi finished the technique and a fire dragon appeared to surround him, it was similar to Sasuke's fire dragon technique. Sasuke didn't even flinch seeing the fire dragon there. The chidori turned black and Sasuke's blade began to give off a glow. At first it was a small glow but soon it grew into something bigger.

Itachi's dragon the dived forward into the ground where Sasuke was. An earth shattering sound echoed throughout all the forest. Tree's crumbled and were uprooted by the force of the crash. Itachi was surprised at his own power but he continued to watch. His dragon roared at the crater it had created. Some of the rocks even melted at the fierce heat emitting from the dragon.

From the smoke something spiralled out and straight through the dragon. The dragon bellowed in pain and collapsed. Itachi was shocked. That wasn't supposed to happen. Sasuke flew directly above Itachi. He then suddenly stopped and began to spiral towards the earth. Picking up a huge amount of speed. Itachi tried to move but was held to the spot by shadow clones. He closed his eyes and tried summoning his remaining strength but none came.

He screamed when Sasuke's blade completely removed his left arm and part of his body. He immediately grabbed his injured shoulder and toppled over into his own blood. Sasuke was struggling to return into his normal form. The seal was drawing to much chakra. He pulled at his hair in frustration. He then stumbled and fell over. He screamed in agony. He could feel his soul slipping away. Itachi then laughed. He coughed out some blood then looked at Sasuke's form.

"...look at what you have become"

"..."

"...and it's all because off me"

"..."

"I almost feel sorry for you" he then laughed out again.

"Shut up" Sasuke cursed through gritted teeth.

"I suppose I should tell you what's going to happen..."

This made Sasuke curious.

"Tell me" he demanded.

"..."

"Tell me now!" he yelled.

"I can't believe you did it" he voiced his thoughts.

"..."

"...now you will obtain the most advanced sharingan possible"

"...what?"

"...the curse of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke"

He stared at Itachi with the blankest of expressions. Itachi sighed and began to explain.

"...when a sibling manages to kill a brother or sister with the mangekyou sharingan"

"..."

"...they obtain the fullest power of the sharingan" he then coughed out some more blood.

"...you will have to find out yourself" he then said.

"...even I don't know its potential"

Sasuke shuddered hearing those words. He looked at Itachi's direction to find him dead. His clan was finally avenged. He thought all the weight on his chest would lift but none did. He wished he could see his parents smiling down at him but instead his father's words echoed through his mind.

"Don't follow your brother's footsteps"

"..but you did, I'm ashamed of you Sasuke"

"...you are not my son"

Sasuke looked at his mother for comfort but she couldn't even look at him. Sasuke felt anger rise from within. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to be happy and free but he wasn't. Crawling over to Itachi he grabbed the ring of his finger and grasped it firmly. This token would remind him of how he defeated his brother, by selling his soul to the devil. He would now give up his body to Orochimaru.

Sasuke then rolled onto his back and closed his eyes. Itachi's blood drenching his clothing. "_Stop resisting Sasuke-kun..." _He was shocked at first. _What...? "You're resisting me..." _

"I am...?"

Sasuke then felt a burning feeling start at the bottom of his feet. It slowly moved up to his body. When it passed his heart he jerked violently at the fire burning his insides. He gritted his teeth and ground them together. Clenching his fists he fought this thing but it only got stronger. When it went pass into his throat he stopped breathing. His hands trying struggling to somehow open his throat. Tears swelled up in his eyes from the lack of oxygen. As quickly as the pain came it moved up into his eyes. It was burning through his eyes. Sasuke felt like ripping his eyes out but he couldn't move. So he gave up. Maybe he would die here...

_A few hours later..._

"Should we wake him?"

"Yes"

The nin moved to Sasuke's side and tried to shake him awake. Sasuke opened his eyes slowly and stared at the sky.

"Sir?"

Sasuke turned to face the boy. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds and then the boy cried out. He was swearing and his eyes watering. His body trembled as the boy screamed. Sasuke felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck. His vision blurred but he managed to catch the symbol on the boy's headband. _Konoha..._

"What happened?" asked the jounin.

"He just looked into his eyes" replied one member of the team.

The jounin picked up Sasuke and realised who it was.

"You idiots!" he swore at the children.

"...this is Uchiha Sasuke, a missing nin"

The group gasped.

"We better take him back to _Konoha..." and get some hunter-nin to clean this graveyard..."_

"Hai"

With this they set off for Konoha...

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_A/N: Hey, hope you liked the idea so far. Basically whoever he looks at gets stuck in a illusion of their worst fear. Sasuke can't control his new sharingan yet. I needed a break from "For Her" so i decided to write this new idea I came up with from reading various other SasuSaku fics. _

_Stay tuned for updates: P_

_Snowsin_

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